by J W Murison
‘Proof that there is indeed wild grass and of the species that wishes to invade.’
‘Of course, if you wish. Can you open a communications channel to my ship?’
He nodded and all of a sudden Steven could here Babes. He sent her some orders and she complied, ‘my ship is going to send you what we call a documentary on the African plains. She will also send you our files on what we have discovered here.’
‘I will study this evidence.’
‘Before I go may I ask what it is you are doing in our universe?’
The captain thought it over for a moment, ‘as we are in your universe I suppose we may owe you an explanation. We were fighting a species called the Droning. They are a breakaway race from my own species. They decided they no longer wished to be ruled by our emperor and one even had the audacity to call himself emperor. This false emperor became enamoured of himself and decided he should like to rule both kingdoms. He was once one of our greatest generals and fought a long and bloody war. We finally had him cornered in a decisive battle. To escape he crossed the barrier, believing we would not follow. He was just mad enough to try and re-cross it and my emperor asked for volunteers to pursue him and destroy him once and for all. I volunteered this ship and its crew. We caught him the moment we crossed; he had stopped to make repairs and we destroyed his ship and the remainder of his fleet as they sat defenceless. Ten years of war finished.’
‘I congratulate you on your victory and your sacrifice.’
The captain nodded his acceptance of the compliment, ‘we may well meet again Captain Gordon.’
Chapter 14
It took a few weeks more for them to be ready to depart for Earth. By then all were nearing exhaustion. The freighter was ready to take off. Earth was screaming for them to return as quickly as possible. Babes and Ico were laden with nanobots from the two ships that had died and were twice their normal size. Every corpse now lay within the hull of both ships ready for their return to Earth. Steven considered leaving booby traps within the complex should they fail to be able to return before their Enemy. His eyes swept over the huge battleship that had been poised as if waiting for a week now. If they wanted to enter the complex then he could not leave a booby trap. The last thing he wanted was that thing on his tail all the way to Earth. He was going to let everyone get a goodnights sleep and start the homeward journey in the morning.
There had been little communication with the aliens. A few strange requests; some for information and another for more documentaries. He sent some of David Attenborough’s making sure that Babes removed any references to men being meat eaters. Now he wondered if he had done the right thing. Colonel Howe had hit the roof when he had told him and had chastened him for his lack of thought. Could they now have even more enemies out there? Steven shook it off, he could only hope that his forthrightness would bring dividends in the future. He had one more thing to deal with before he turned in.
He returned to the complex and sought out Kelly. He was in what had become a make shift canteen. Steven knew he was alone; the sergeant had his feet up on a table and he was cleaning a strange looking weapon. The barrel was bent out of shape. Steven smiled, ‘Sergeant Kelly, why on earth are you cleaning a broken rifle?’
Kelly laughed, ‘it isn’t broken sir. It is actually designed this way to shoot round corners. German ingenuity sir, you just can’t beat it.’
‘You jest!’
‘Nope, it’s what it was designed for. Your men told me there were very few of them left back home. I am glad you arranged external storage for them on the freighter sir.’
‘After you and the rest of the soldiers kicked up a stink about them I thought it wise, rather than face a mutiny. What the hell do you want them for anyway?’
‘According to the guys sir most are museum pieces now and can fetch a fair price back home. A little nest egg if you will.’
Steven grinned, ‘after the work you have put in over the past few weeks Sarge I won’t begrudge you that. You have a talent for organisation and motivating people even if your methods are a little unorthodox to say the least.’
Kelly laughed, ‘well I have had my ass kicked by some of the best sir. If you don’t mind me saying sir you have far too much grey matter and not enough muscle on board these ships.’
Steven laughed, ‘I know, but none of them signed up for this Sarge. You will be glad to know that we have initialised a new space academy back on Earth. The youngest brightest minds along with a fair bit of military training thrown in.’
‘Glad to hear it sir.’
‘Don’t be too hard on them Sarge, they did their best.’
‘They did really well sir if you don’t mind me saying. A lot of what they were doing was also way over my head. I think I have a lot of catching up to do when I get back to Earth. Can’t say I'm very fond of the music though.’
Steven laughed, ‘yeah, I’ll bet it’s really strange to your ears.’
Kelly joined him in his laughter, ‘so what is it you really want to see me about sir?’
‘Am I really that transparent Sarge?’
‘Seen that look in a man’s eyes before sir; right before they gave you the butcher’s bill for an operation. I take it you got the figures back.’
Steven head dropped, ‘yeah, she made a rough estimate, have you any idea?’
‘I gave up trying to keep track when it reached about five hundred sir, I would say roughly ten times that number.’
‘You’re way off Sarge,’ Steven took a deep breath, ‘Babe’s estimates about fifteen thousand.’
Kelly let out a long breath and stood up, ‘coffee sir?’
‘Yes please.’
‘Ain’t no milk left sir.’
‘Black and sweet will do fine.’
Kelly poured them both a coffee and sat it down in front of Stevie. They sat in quiet contemplation sipping on their hot drink. ‘May I ask how many were women and children sir?’
‘Half we think.’
Kelly shook his head in disgust, ‘bastards.’ Steven raised an eyebrow at the language but let it slip. Kelly was deep in thought and took another sip of his coffee before slinging his boots back up onto the table. ‘You didn’t find any kids amongst the sleepers did you sir?’
Steven shook his head, ‘no, nor amongst the dead Sarge. Why the hell did they take all those women and children and then kill them?’
Kelly was shaking his head, ‘don’t think that was why they took them sir?’
Steven looked up from his mug, ‘you have formed some kind of hypothesis Sarge?’
‘Yeah recon I have sir.’
‘Want to share it?’
‘I been told they were sending some of those captured home sir. Breeding them too.’
Steven shrugged, ‘we know they certainly sent some home, we haven’t found the exact records yet.’
‘I would take a bet on it sir and I'm not a betting man.’
Steven shook his head, ‘OK you’re going to have to help me out here Sarge. We know women who have had children were unsuitable for the serum. Having a child takes something out of them.’
‘Yeah I’ll say, but there is one thing a woman who has had a child is good for sir and that is having more children. Why use up a good specimen for the serum when you have a woman who has already had a child.’
‘You think you sent the women and children home as part of a breeding program.’
‘I think that would depend on the age of the child sir. Teenagers close to breeding age maybe, the very young I doubt very much.’
Steven shook his head, ‘if the reason is to breed why get rid of perfectly good children.’
‘Something the doc said to me sir; she said those units could only hold one body; no more, not even two small children. A pregnant woman yeah but not a woman and her child, not even if it was a baby.’
Steven shook his head, ‘still not getting you Sarge.’
‘You got to stop thinking with your heart sir and start thinki
ng with your head. That means you got to stop thinking rationally sir. Way I see it is this, you got a pod that can hold nine people, why nine. Could it be that they send eight women and a man. One man can service eight women without any bother sir.’
‘You mean like a breeding unit Sarge?’
‘Yes sir.’
Steven nodded, ‘yeah OK, I can see that.’
‘If you sent one man, four women and four babies, the babies would have to be female. Then the man would have to wait between fourteen and sixteen years for them to mature enough for them to have children. In the meantime the four women could have a child a year up until the babies are old enough. So that’s 64 babies to four women before the babies they took with them are old enough to breed. But if you took eight women sir.’
Steven held up a hand, ‘I get you Sarge; that would mean in that fifteen years they could produce one hundred and twenty eight children in that sixteen years.’
Kelly sat back and drained his coffee, ‘yup, of course they won’t all be female babies but they wouldn’t care would they. They could use the females for breeding and the males to experiment on.’
Steven was struggling to comprehend, ‘but there was a mixture in your pod.’
‘That’s right sir but they had perfected the serum, no need to send breeders.’
‘I can’t see it Sarge.’
‘You don’t want to see it sir. In the nineteen thirty’s and forty’s they gave women in Germany medals if they produced over a certain amount of children.’
‘Did they?’
‘Yup they sure did.’
‘I didn’t know that.’
‘Families were big back in my day sir, I hear today most folk have two or three kids at most. It was nothing unusual to have families with ten or more kids when I was growing up.’
Steven stood, ‘you have given me a lot of food for thought Sarge. I can’t say I like what you're saying but damn it man it makes a lot of sense.’
‘I know you don’t like it sir,’ the Kelly shook his head sadly, ‘I think one of the reasons I stayed in the army was because of the things I saw during the war. I didn’t feel I was capable of living a normal life again. I know a lot of good men who left and just never made it in civilian life. I just didn’t feel clean enough if you can understand that sentiment sir.’
Steven smiled, ‘I get where you are coming from Sarge. You have been a great help these past few weeks but I think I said that already didn’t I.’
Kelly grinned, ‘it is always nice to hear sir.’
‘If you ever get stuck for a job when you get home Sarge I could always use a good motivator.’
They both burst out laughing, ‘I will bear that in mind sir.’
‘What are you planning on doing?’
‘I got a thing called an email from my great nephew. They still stay on the old homestead where I was brought up. They have a spare room above the garage and the old family rocking chair. I think I will give that a try to start with sir. It’s kinda hard to believe that my wars were so long ago there ain't anyone still alive from them, apart from me so far that is.’ He shook his head slowly, ‘I have never been able to distance myself from them until now.’
Steven nodded, ‘you feel you can now?’
‘Yeah I do sir; I already feel a great distance from those wars. I feel different. Didn’t at first of course but I do now. Maybe it was helping all those people. Maybe it is knowing that there is something out there that is far more dangerous and even more evil that the people I once fought.’
Steven smiled, ‘you mean even more evil than man himself.’
Kelly grinned, ‘that’s a bit deep for an old soldier like me sir, but I hear yah. You look beat you should turn in.’
‘I am just going too and so should you.’
‘Babes gave me a nice grease to protect these weapons with sir. I'm just going to finish them up, then she is going to beam them into those pods on the side of the freighter.’
‘How do you think your pod mates are coping Sarge?’
‘Some are coping just fine sir but those who have been asleep longer are finding it harder to adjust. I have kept them busy and the crew have been really nice to them.’
‘Glad to hear it; right I'm turning in.’ Steven stood.
‘Night sir.’
‘Good night sergeant Kelly.’
Chapter 15
Steven felt like he had only been asleep for minutes before Buzz shook him awake. ‘Wake up bud, duty calls.’
Steven groaned, ‘what the hell. How long have I been sleeping?’
‘You got six hours solid.’
‘It feels like two.’
‘Know the feeling. The freighter is ready for lift off and as soon as it reaches orbit the pilots are going to start loading those scout craft.’
‘Yeah let’s hope those brackets we welded to her hull will hold.’
Buzz agreed, ‘I think they will, but you have bigger fish to fry?’
‘Oh! Like what?’
‘The captain of the battle cruiser has requested your presence.’
Steven came alert at once. ‘Oh yeah! Is that it?’
‘Yup sure is.’
‘Nothing more since they requested our laws on salvage?’
‘Nope, do you think they realise that we just reworked the maritime laws from Earth.’
Steven frowned, ‘do you think they are going to try and stop us Buzz?’
‘Get your arse over there and find out bud.’
Steven slid out of bed, ‘I’ll need you here to oversee everything Buzz.’
‘Yeah OK, at least take Howe.’
‘Will do, you want breakfast?’
‘Nah, I have little appetite for those little green bars.’
Buzz shrugged, ‘well you were the one who wanted to wake up all those people a few days away from the moon and they will need to be fed.’
Steven pulled on his uniform, ‘I think we need to do that Buzz. Rather find out if they are going to be a problem before they hit Moonbase and start kicking up shit there.’
‘Not saying you're wrong Stevie, just saying don’t moan about the food and don’t turn your nose up at it. You need to eat.’
‘Yeah OK stop going on like my mother and get back to it; tell Howe to be ready will you?’
Buzz laughed, ‘on my way.’
Babes was directed to an air lock high up on the battle cruiser and they docked. Steven was told he wouldn’t need his suit so they went as they were. Both carried a pistol and Howe carried his weapon slung in a casual manner. When the cruisers airlock door slid open it was to reveal a line of heavily armed Modloch. As the Steven stepped in there was a growl and the soldiers came to attention. Captain Gairloch appeared and did something strange with his hand.
Howe gave Steven a nudge, ‘he is saluting you. Salute back.’
Steven panicked for a moment and tried to remember how he had seen Howe and his men do it. He saluted back and Gairloch growled in a fierce manner which seemed to mean acceptance. He then produced a strange looking scroll that was clear to the naked eye, then words seemed to appear on it. The captain was obviously dressed in his best uniform and it seemed emblazoned with colour.
‘I have a communiqué here from our beloved lord and Emperor,’ the name was little more than a long drawn out snarl to the human’s ears. ‘Greetings to the people of the planet called Earth from myself and all my subjects. This past few weeks the royal court has been entertained greatly by the pictorial records your people call documentaries. We find your planet a rare beauty, a jewel in any universe. To find a species that has preserved its wild animals and their environments depicts a people of great heart and understanding. As your people are unaffected by the effects your sun has on all species from this side of the great barrier, our best scientists and doctors believe that your people will also be immune to the great plague. With this in mind we will welcome a delegation from your planet to visit us.
We would be honoured t
o begin trading with your planet and taste your many wondrous wild grasses. So as a gesture of our good will I make a gift to you of the battle cruiser Burning Wind, to help defend yourselves against your gathering enemy. I sincerely hope that this gift is accepted by the people of Earth as it is a measure of the high regard we already hold your race in.’
Gairloch closed the scroll, ‘would you join me in some light refreshments Captain Gordon. There are a number of small issues I would like to discuss with you in private if I may. Of course you may take your man.’
‘Certainly captain.’
The captains private quarters were quite spacious but Spartan. He did however have his own dining area. The seats were more like large benches and Steven felt punitive sitting at it. Gairloch was polite enough not to mention it. They were served water in a pint glass. In the humans hands it looked big but in the captains and his first mates hands they looked like tumblers.
‘There was a number of things captain Gordon that my Emperor wanted to ask off the record. The first are simple requests and will in no way prevent the handing over of The Burning Wind.’
‘Please feel free to ask captain Gairloch.’
‘We noticed how carefully you have handled the bodies of your dead over this past week. We assume you are returning them to Earth.’
‘Yes we are.’
‘What will you do with them then captain?’
‘For those that can be identified, they will be returned to their families. For those that cannot be identified they will be buried or cremated. The names of the people we have discovered will most likely be put on a monument. That way whomever wishes may come to visit and pay their respects to the deceased. Also relations of people who have loved ones disappear in mysterious circumstances may also come and visit; to check and see if indeed a missing loved one is on the list.’
The big head nodded, ‘you treat your dead with respect; that is good. We do much the same thing. This is the request that our emperor asks. That the remains of the crew of The Burning Wind be interred in the wild lands your people call Africa and that a monument be built and their names be recorded on it.’